Before
designing “La Oliva”, our client and we visited Spain in advance. Our concept
for this restaurant was “to bring real Spain to Japan.”
We
needed a clear concept to integrate all the below factors into one restaurant;
for all of the followings are “real Spain” restaurants.
Restaurants
that emphasize bar style culture and history are most familiar throughout
Spain.
Restaurants
that have modern appearance, though you can still feel the Spanish atmosphere,
are relatively new type of restaurants in Spain.
So, we
made a proposal to our client with the concept of “Making designs that are
absolutely comfortable with restaurants of present-day Spain”.
Considering
the construction costs, we wanted to make good balance of Japanese people’s
preference. We used contemporary methods in total and filled with combinations
of beautiful town scenery and clusters of Spanish bars.
We
brought the local impression into shape; for example bricks and walls for the
black board, patterned imprinted tiles, and wooden counters that perfectly
harmonize.
We
displayed photograph, we took in Spain and made it into a monochrome one, on
the upper open counter as one of the designs. All the posters in this
restaurant, we bought from an antique shop in Spain.
As for
the space construction of the façade, we set terrace seats in spacious and
inconspicuous boundaries with high tables to make people easier to enter the
restaurant and to let the people outside know that it’s always crowded.
Inside
the restaurant, we placed an open kitchen so that the customers will enjoy the
live atmosphere of the cooking. And the further away you sit from the open
kitchen, the higher your eye level will become. In this way, no matter where
you sit, everyone can easily communicate with the staff members in the kitchen.
Consequently,
we were able to create a restaurant such as the bar style and taverna style,
with every day full of customers who love Spain.